The implementation of sustainable biowaste management is currently one of the big challenges e.g. for Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern European countries. Support with knowledge and expertise is required for developing a consistent policy and the regulatory framework and implementation tools need to be provided to local authorities for fulfilling the regulation of the EU Landfill Directive. This was the reason for our international Seminar “Implementation of Organic Waste Management in Southern and Eastern European Countries – Status, Challenges and Solutions” in, Sofia, Bulgaria.

The very successful seminar  with 25 presentations and 170 participants from 24 Countries including the ECN workshops was a good opportunity for policy makers, authorities, environmental, waste and agricultural experts to network about successful management of biowaste, best practice and policy measures in the organic waste sector of Member States.

The presentations are now available for download as pdf from the Seminar website www.biowaste.eu

At ESPC 2013, the European Phosphorus Platform was launched. Over 150 organisations already signed the joint declaration with the outlines of the platform, which will be directly connected to the European Innovation Partnerships on Raw Materials, Water and Sustainable Agriculture and the research and innovation agendas of Horizon 2020.

The Phosphorus Challenge

Phosphorus is essential for life on earth. Phosphorus is needed for fertilizers, we use for feed and food. For our food security and avoiding environmental damage, it is urgent that we take action with efficient use, more recycling and smart cooperation.
For phosphorus, Europe depends on only a few exporting countries. Supplies are finite and there is no guarantee how much raw phosphorus will come to Europe; and to what price! At the same time we waste a lot of phosphorus in the food chain.
For a 2,5 minute explanation of ‘the Phosphorus Challenge’ please watch and share the animated film as youtube-video or on phosphorusplatform.eu.

The Europaen Compost Network (ECN) and the Flemish public waste organisation (OVAM) helped co-ordinate two interactive round table sessions on ‘Recycling P from Organic Waste’ on day one of the 1st European Phosphorus Conference. Two sessions were held, which were led by Dr Stefanie Siebert (ECN), Dr Adrie Veeken (Attero, NL) and Nico Vanaken (OVAM, BE). read more....

Organised by the Dutch Nutrient Platform, the 1st European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference (ESPC2013) was held on the 6 and 7 March 2013, at the Square, Brussels.  It brought together over 300 delegates from businesses, academia, NGOs, member states and the European Union to discuss the issues surrounding better phosphorous management.

Over the two-day conference, delegates heard presentations from politicians, nutrient experts as well as representatives from fertiliser companies. Overall, the key themes centred on using less, recycling more and co-operation between parties.

Environment Commissioner Dr Janez Potočnik, as key speaker of the second day, stressed the need for improving agricultural efficiency, improving the processing of manure so that it can be transported away from areas of P over supply (such as the Netherlands and Belgium) and phasing out the use of landfill to encourage the recovery of P from biodegradable waste.

The issue of more effective biowaste management was raised a number of times. Answering a question raised by ECN, EU Commissioner Potočnik indicated that targets for biowaste recycling may be developed during 2013. He expects that a public consultation will begin this year, with a draft report proposed for 2014.

The speech of EU Environmental Commissioner, Dr. Janez Potočnik, can be downloaded here.

The ECN Annual Meeting took place on the 5th March 2013 in Brussels. 33 Members were present at the meeting. A new ECN Board was elected for the election period 2013-2014.

The presentation of the Annual meeting 2013 and the presentation of the key speaker Eric Liegeois from DG Enterprise and Industry on the revision of the EU Fertiliser Regulation can be downloaded in the ECN Members area/ Annual meetings.

Seminar – Workshop – Exhibition (17 – 19 April 2013)

“Implementation of Organic Waste Management in Southern and Eastern European Countries” – Status, challenges and solutions -

Biowaste Sofia2013 will present and discuss the current efforts in setting the strategic and regulatory framework for viable solutions for organic waste recycling and its national implementation. The conference is organised by ECN, ISWA and the Ministry of Environment and Water of Bulgaria.

more information

ECN’s Annual Meeting will be held on the 5th March 2013 in Brussels (Belgium).
The Annual Meeting is scheduled to take place between 14:00 and 18:00 h in the Renaissance Brussels Hotel followed by a common ECN dinner in the dining room of the hotel.

This year our Annual Meeting will be connected to the 1st European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference (ESPC2013), which will be held on the 6th and 7th March 2013 in the conference centre Square Brussels (Brussels City).
Please note that the conference is free of charge, but is limited to 250 participants; pre-registration for ESPC2013 is now open!

The European Commission has proposed a new Environment Action Programme for the EU. Entitled “Living well, within the limits of our planet”, it will guide environment policy up to 2020. The proposal aims to enhance Europe’s ecological resilience and turn the EU into a resource-efficient, green and competitive low-carbon economy. As priority objective the EU shall ensure by 2020 that waste is safely managed as a resource, waste generated per capita is in absolute decline, energy recovery is limited to non-recyclable materials and landfilling of recyclable and compostable materials is effectively eradicated.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/newprg/index.htm

The first meeting of the ECN Working Group “Integrated Waste Management” is kindly hosted by CIC Consorzio Italiano Compostatori in its technical office in Cavenago Brianza in Italy. Cavenago Brianza is placed between Milan and Bergamo.

The meeting is scheduled from 11:00 to 16:00 h on the 14th December 2012.

The agenda can be downloaded here.

The JRC-ITPS has published the “3rd Technical Report on End-Of-Waste Criteria on Biodegradable Waste subject to Biological Treatment on the 10th August 2012”.

The third working document includes some fundamental changes in respect to allow mixed municipal solid waste and sewage sludge as input materials for EoW compost and digestate.

ECN objects strongly to the proposal of JRC-IPTS to allow mixed MSW and sewage sludge to be permitted feedstocks.

The final ECN Position Statement on the 3rd technical report on EoW for compost and digestate can be downloaded here.

From Waste to Product – Sustainable Management of Organic Resources in Europe

The ECN Workshop 2012 “From Waste to Product – Sustainable Management of Organic Resources in Europe” was held sucessfully on the 13^th June 2012 during the 8^th International Conference ORBIT2012 in Rennes.

The ECN Workshop 2012 focussed on the current European strategies and policies towards a “Recycling Society” including a sustainable management of organic resources in Europe. As keynote speaker Hans Saveyn from the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) in Seville presented the current status of the initiative of the European Commission to set up End-of-Waste criteria for compost and digestate. Further different strategies on the management of biowaste and effective marketing solutions for organic resources in Europe were presented.

The ECN Workshop programme and all presentations of the ECN workshop can be downloaded here.

New ECN Flyer is available

According to the updated ECN Mission and Vision the ECN Flyer has been renewed.

ECN Members are kindly asked to order the new ECN Flyer for advertising purposes (e.g. conferences, workshops, seminars etc.)

Please send an email to   info@compostnetwork.info.

The ECN Flyer can be downloaded here.

The European Commission has published a new study on the implementation on EU Waste legislation. This study contains an in-depth analysis of the effects of proper implementation and enforcement of EU waste legislation, both in terms of the economic, social and environmental benefits of implementing EU waste legislation as well as through a number of specific case studies in Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands. The study also describes the necessary tasks to be carried out in order to overcome current implementation barriers and includes a number of options on how to deal with these tasks.

Final report

The European Compost Network has published the Annual report 2011. Besides the information about the constitution of the network, the new elected ECN Board information of the ECNs work in 2011 is given.

The ECN Annual Report 2011 can be downloaded here.

With the beginning of 2012 the office of the European Compost Network moved from Oelde to Bochum. Ms Stefanie Siebert is nominated as Executive Director of the European Compost Network. Please note the new address and contact dates:

European Compost Network ECN e.V.
Im Dohlenbruch 11
44795 Bochum (Germany)
T. ++49 (0) 234 438 9447
F. ++49 (0) 234 438 9448
Email: info@compostnetwork.info

Challenges for the Implementation of Municipal Biodegradable Waste Management in the Baltic States.

The European Compost Network together with ISWA and in cooperation
with Lithuanian Ministry of Environment organised the 3rd Baltic Biowaste Conference with 150 participants.

The conference  took place on the 23./24. November 2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Further information here

The EU Commission is going to revise the EU Fertiliser Regulation in respect to include organic fertiliser in this regulation. The revision is supported by an ongoing technical study that aims at collecting information on the EU ferilisers market and at developing and assessing a set of policy options in terms of their possible impacts on human health and the environment. The final draft of this study will be available by mid-November 2011.

Further the Commission intends to set up four technical working groups where all stakeholders are asked to nominate experts for the different working group issues.
The following four working groups will be implemented in 2012.

• WG1: Overall structure of the future proposal
• WG2: Nutrient content, Product composition and agronomic efficacy
• WG3: Contaminants, Hygiene and other Risks
• WG4: Labelling, Enforcement and Control

The detailed descriptions for setting up ad-hoc working groups in the context of the revision ot the Fertiliser Regulation (EG) No 2003/2003 can be downloaded here.

Save the date: 12 June 2012

The ECN Annual Meeting 2012 will take place during the ORBIT2012 in Rennes. The Annual meeting will be scheduled from 16:00 h to 19:00 h on the 12 June 2012.

We would like to celebrate the 10 year jubilee of the European Compost Network ECN with a dinner in the evening of the 12 June 2012.

Further the ECN workshop on “From Waste to Product – Sustainable Management of Organic Resources in Europe” will be held on the 13 June 2012 during the 8^th International Conference ORBIT2012 in Rennes.

Further information on the Annual meeting 2012 will be send out at the beginning of 2012.

Save the date: 13 June 2012

The ECN Workshop 2012 “From Waste to Product – Sustainable Management of Organic Resources in Europe” will be held on the 13 June 2012 during the 8^th International Conference ORBIT2012 in Rennes.

The ECN Workshop 2012 focusses on the current European strategies and policies towards a “Recycling Society” including a sustainable management of organic resources in Europe. 10 years after the foundation of the European Compost Network in Budapest we have now achieved the level where the sustainable management of biowaste forms a sound basis for a resource efficient recycling society which produces and uses successfully fertilising and soil improving products from our organic resources.

Main topics of the ECN Workshop will be the initiatives of European Policy, the status of biowaste management in Europe and effective strategies for the markets of compost and

The preliminary programme will be published here at the beginning of 2012.

The European “Green Week” 2011 was opened under the slogan “Using less, living better” by the European Commissioner Janez Potočnik on the 24^th May 2011. Resource conservation and the efficient use of resources by reusing and recycling are the key element of the 21th century. In this context the European Commission has published the flagship initiative “A Resource-efficient Europe” and the ”EU Raw Material Strategy”.

The EU flagship initiative “A resource efficient Europe” can be downloaded here.

http://ec.europa.eu/resource-efficient-europe/pdf/resource_efficient_europe_en.pdf

The European Communication on Raw Materials can be downloaded here.

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/raw-materials/files/docs/communication_en.pdf

The Joint Research Institute (JRC) of the European Commission “Institute for Environment and Sustainability” (IES) has commissioned a screening exercise to determine the pollutants in treated bio-waste in the context of the decision-making process for end-of-waste criteria for compost and digestate. During June 2011 the JRC-IES is going to collect samples of compost, digestate, sludge compost and MBT-material across Europe. Based on the outcome of the results the JRC-IES will publish the second report on End-of-waste criteria for compost and digestate.

Further Information on the EoW project can be found here.

http://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/activities/waste/

The first technical working group (TWG) meeting on end-of-waste (EoW) criteria for compost and digestate of the European Commission took place at the Joint Research Centre “Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS)” on the 2 March 2011 in Seville.

ECN has summarized the presentations of the first TWG meeting. The ECN_EOW_Presentation can be downloaded here.

In respect to the discussion on EoW criteria and further EU regulation on bio-waste ECN has worked out a position on regulating different waste streams in Europe. The ECN POSITION on the concept of regulating bio-waste recycling in the EU can be downloaded here.

In the context of the Belgian EU presidency the Belgian Environmental Agency (OVAM) organised a bio-waste-conference under the title Do not waste your bio-waste which was held in Brussels on 21 September 2010.

More than 200 participants from 21 European Countries followed the ongoing discussion for an European legislation on the management of bio-waste.

The presentations of the conference will be published on the website of OVAM

The new Animal by-Products Regulation (EC) 1069/2009 laying down “health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption2 is now accompanied by the Implementing Regulation (EC) 142/2011 which applies since 4 March 2011. Both are a consequence of a long and comprehensive review carried of out by the EU Commission in order to update and simplify the ABP Regulation (EC) 1774 from 2002.

The download address for the Regulation (EC) 1069/2009 is

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:300:0001:0033:EN:PDF

Implementation Regulation on ABPR 142_2011

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:054:0001:0254:EN:PDF

The ORBIT2012, organised by Cemagref and ECN, is scheduled for the 12^th to 15^th June 2012 in Rennes, France. The flyer of the ORBIT2012 can be downloaded Orbit2012.

For abstract submission and registration please visit the website: www.orbit2012.fr